1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a washing machine and, more particularly, to a washing machine and manufacturing method thereof capable of simplifying an assembly process and maintaining concentricity of a stator.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a washing machine is designed to wash laundry using a suitable detergent and mechanical force. Particularly, a drum type washing machine is designed to receive the laundry in a horizontally disposed drum which is rotated by a drive force from a motor, and to wash the laundry by impact generated between the laundry and the drum when the laundry is lifted and dropped inside the rotating drum. The drum type washing machine has many advantages, such as effective washing, minimal damage to and less entanglement of laundry, etc.
FIG. 1 is a section side elevation of a conventional drum type washing machine.
Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional drive unit of the drum type washing machine includes a stator 1 which has a coil wound around a laminated iron core stack to generate a rotational magnetic field when electric current flows through the coil, and a rotor 5 rotated by the rotating magnetic field from the stator 1 to rotate a drive shaft 3.
The drive shaft 3 is provided at one side thereof with a bearing housing 7 that has a bearing 7a received therein to rotatably support the drive shaft 3, and the stator 1 is provided at one side of the bearing housing 7.
The drive shaft 3 is secured to a drum 13 to allow the drum 13 to rotate along with the drive shaft 3, and a tub 15 is provided outside the drum 13 to accommodate wash water.
In recent years, the drum type washing machine has been increased in capacity. Thus, in the structure of the conventional drum type washing machine wherein the stator is installed to have a radial direction facing the ground, use of a stator having a weight of 1.5 kg or more and fastened to the tub causes many problems such as damage of the tub and the like.
To solve such problems, a metallic supporter can be provided between a rear wall of the tub and the stator. In this case, however, separate processes of coupling the bearing housing and the supporter to the rear wall of the tub are needed, thus complicating an assembly process, which in turn deteriorates productivity. Further, since this structure requires an increased number of assembling steps, there is a problem in that assembly errors can occur due to such an increased number of assembling steps, thus causing deviation of concentricity of the bearing housing and the stator. Therefore, there is a need for solving such problems of the conventional techniques.